


Step Two

by Eternallydeancas



Series: Small Steps [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, College AU, Dean Proposes, Dean's a dork basically, Destiel - Freeform, Fluff, M/M, Sequel, Valentine's Day, marriage proposal fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 21:04:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3355211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternallydeancas/pseuds/Eternallydeancas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has been a year since Cas and Dean got together and Dean thinks it's time to take things to the next step.</p><p>--Sequel to Happy Not-Valentine's-Day</p>
            </blockquote>





	Step Two

**Author's Note:**

> For Onja. This wouldn't have happened without you. Happy Valentine's Day.

**Approximately One Year Later**

            Dean’s nervous. A lot has happened in the last year, what with Cas’ study abroad trip, plans for Cas’ graduation, and Dean’s internship. Not to mention the Great Novak-Milton sibling Blowout of 2014, when Anna, Hannah, and Gabriel outwardly shunned Michael, Zach, and Luc for giving Cas a hard time about dating a guy. Basically: so much has happened – a great deal _because_ of him – that Dean’s even afraid to think about asking.

            “What’s the worst he could say?”Sam had asked when Dean voiced his worries on the phone, for the eighth time in two days. “No? Come on, Dean. It’s Cas. He won’t say no.”

            And part of him knew his brother was right. So he hung up after listening to his mom’s message for Cas – “Tell him he’s the John to my Sherlock. Dean, it’s almost Valentine’s Day, just tell him. He’ll know what it means.” – and proceeded to spend the subsequent five hours trying to think of just _how_ he should ask, while regretting his decision to share his Netflix account with his family.

            Step one was to decide. And even _that_ wasn’t as difficult as Dean’s always thought it to be. He’s never wanted this with any of the other people he’s been involved with, not really. He’d been close with Lisa, he concedes, as he debates restaurants they could go to, but obviously _that_ hadn’t lasted as long as he thought it might have. _God_ , is he glad it didn’t work out between them.

            He thinks this just as his phone rings; Cas’ cross-eyed selfie fills the screen and Dean can’t suppress the shit-eating grin that overtakes his face.

            “I told you to stop calling me on this phone, my boyfriend’ll get suspicious,” he teases in favor of an answer. He tries to ignore the way his heart flips at Cas’ answering snort, he really does.

            “Just tell this boyfriend of yours that you’re busy servicing a ridiculously handsome gentleman,” Cas drawls, his voice dropping an impossible octave lower. “I’m sure he won’t mind. That whole Hall Pass thing withstanding and whatnot.”

            Biting his lip in what is definitely _not_ anticipation, Dean replies, “And who said anything about wanting a gentleman?”

            Cas’ answering huff, both frustrated and aroused, does it in for Dean and, between his laughter, he no longer sees what he’d been so worried about to begin with. He wants this. He wants it every day for the rest of the foreseeable future.

            “How does dinner sound?” he smiles into the receiver and decides on just the place. “At Macon’s?”

            Macon’s Grill, situated just off of campus, has become their default spot whenever they can’t agree on a place to eat. It has a mean Bacon and Bleu burger, which Dean refuses to admit to being one of his favorites, and fried PB&J, which Cas goes absolutely nuts for.

            “How about to-go?” Cas asks, clearing his throat. “I can pick it up; I’m already on my way to your place.”

            Which kind of catches him off guard because suddenly Cas is in control of the situation, but he can deal. “Yeah, okay. I’ll see you soon. Love you.” He hangs up with a soft tap to the screen and looks around his apartment. It’s not _too_ messy – certainly nothing Cas hasn’t seen before – but plans have changed and ‘not _too_ messy’ has turned into ‘ _unacceptable.’_

            So he throws himself into righting _that_ particular wrong, while playing _1989_ on his phone and shoving away any feelings of doubt that inevitably keep creeping up on him. Step one was to decide and step two is to act. He can do this.

**§§§**

 

Cas stands in the entry way of Macon’s, just off to the side so in-house patrons can walk around him, and deliberates on just what he wants to order. He knows he’ll only end up getting what they usually go for, but it never hurts to consider something new.

“Hey, Cas,” Charlie, one of their friends, interrupts his thoughts with a warm smile. “No Dean, tonight?”

Before Cas can answer, he’s struck by the bright pink blouse she’s wearing and the heart printed menus she has in her hands. He checks his watch. Yep, four hours. Valentine’s Day is in four hours and this place looks like it celebrates year-round.

“Ah, um. Dean’s at home, I’m just picking up dinner.” He leans closer, signals for Charlie to do the same and asks, “Are you aware of the amount of cupid’s vomit in this place?”

Charlie pulls back, confusion on her face, and laughs as Cas motions incredulously to the bright pink and red décor around them. Shaking her head, she pulls out her pen and pad and takes his order, mumbling about how _some people need to get into the holiday spirit._

Cas chuckles good naturedly and tries to remember just where he was a year ago around this time. His plans certainly hadn’t mirrored those of this year, he thinks, as he imagines Dean in his apartment, probably working on some assignment he forgot was due by midnight.

**One Year Earlier**

He’d been finishing up his last Valentine’s Day preparations as an RA, his hallway bulletin board flush with safe-sex tips, consent guidelines, and advice on how much alcohol was too much. He was crouching on the floor, busy picking up his supplies, when someone bumped into him. Though he knew it couldn’t have been intentional – the hallways weren’t the widest of spaces and he’d been aware of at least two people walking near him – he’d looked up in annoyance to find Dean smiling apologetically at him.

“Sorry, Cas. I tried to step around you, I swear.”

And Cas tried to ignore the flip-flop of his stomach, he swears.

“It’s no problem,” Cas had said once he found his voice. His brain was screaming at him not to stare while his mouth decided to be the awkwardly professional RA he was. “Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. Uh, be safe and, uh. Don’t get drunk?”

Dean’s brow furrowed in confusion and Cas was just discovering what it meant to want to punch oneself in the face.

“Right,” Dean replied. “See you later.

And then Dean was walking away and Cas was left feeling like he was going to throw up as he saw Dean’s hand in that of the blonde girl, who Cas had honestly forgotten was standing there to begin with.

 

**Present Day**

            So yeah. His plans this year are one thousand percent better – all because he’s no longer the awkward RA who may or may not have been inappropriately pining for one of his residents. Accepting their take-out bag from Charlie and giving her a twenty to cover everything, Cas’ chest grows warm at the thought. He has Dean and that’s all he could ever ask for.

 

**§§§**

            It has officially been thirty minutes since he hung up with Cas and Dean’s pretty damn impressed with himself. He should have taken a Before picture of the place because the After was friggin’ _awesome_. Everything’s in its place – even the things he didn’t realize _had_ a place – and his plans are going relatively smoothly.

Candles are lit on nearly every available surface and he’s spread a checked blanket on the living room floor to resemble a picnic. Cas’ favorite wine sits on the coffee table and a playlist of his favorite songs is playing on the stereo system. For something so monumental, Dean’s handling it fairly well. And then there’s Cas’ signature knock and Dean’s positivity leaps through the sliding glass door and over the edge of the little veranda.

            Heart leaping into his throat, Dean’s eyes sweep over his work and _duh_ , _of course it’s subpar and terrible_. He doesn’t know what to do – what should he do? It’s too late to call his mom again. He’s never really done the whole “blatant romance” schtick and he’s not sure why he thought he could handle it now.

            “Dean?” Cas calls through the front door, his key jiggling in the lock. Dean’s facing the opposite wall but he hears Cas step inside, stomping off snow from his shoes and crumpling the paper of their take-out bag. “Babe, you should have seen Macon’s. I’ve never really gone anywhere for Valentine’s Day before, so maybe it wasn’t _too_ unusual, but the place looked like a color wheel exploded and the only colors that stuck around were red and pink.”

            Dean can’t help the laugh that fights its way out of his mouth and suddenly he can’t wait any longer. “Marry me.”

Hang on. Wait. That’s not what he was supposed to say. He was _supposed_ to ask Cas to move in with him. He was _supposed_ to wait until they were finished with dinner, either reading or watching a movie together. He was _supposed_ to be subtle and collected. He _wasn’t_ supposed to screw up his initial plans. Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck.

            Cas is frozen in place, his eyes wide and his hands gripping the paper bag as if his life depended on it. Shock. That’s what that look is.

            “Uh, I, uh-” Dean tries to backpedal but the syllables emerging from his throat aren’t forming their way into words.

            “Okay,” Cas says after an ungodly amount of time spent staring at him.

            “Okay?” Dean parrots, his voice jumping octaves he didn’t know it could. Did Cas just say ‘okay’? Did he just-

            “Yes. I’ll marry you.”

            He can’t breathe. His eyes burn a little and his tongue has apparently forgotten words completely. He’s having a hard time processing everything because it sounds like he just asked Cas to marry him and Cas said yes and he screwed up asking him to move in together but it actually turned out better than he ever imagined and –

            “Dean.”

            He looks at Cas, who has moved significantly closer to him in the time of his brief freak-out, and his nerves melt away. He grins and then laughs at Cas’ matching smile and, well, when Cas’ hands slip around his neck, everything really is in its place.

            Step Two complete.

Okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it :) More to come with these crazy boys in love.


End file.
